Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Armand for accuracy and for acting. for care for details and music. sure, for Maximilien Schell in one of his greatest roles. a film like a history lesson, who escapes from artistic temptation effects for present a character and his period, the huge pieces of a work and the life as alive parable. a film about transition and ambitions.and about lessons of a manner to transform a society. far to be a pink picture, it is a good example about the force of accuracy.great cast, wise script. a show and little more. because it present more than a page of Russian history but a portrait of a struggle. a seductive mini-series. and a great occasion for discover the freshness of history air history.

rwbyington I keep checking to see if this marvelous production has been transferred to DVD, but so far no luck. Vanessa Redgrave wonderfully portrays Sophie. Maximillian Schell (always good) is equally mesmerizing as Peter the Great. The production as a whole is faithful to Raymond Massie's book (same title) which I read twice many years ago. Having the smaller parts played by the likes of Omar Sharif, Laurence Olivier, and Trevor Howard is a real plus.Peter's struggles with the Streltsy and the Boyars is faithfully portrayed. There is a pedestal in Red Square where the executions supposedly occurred. Peter the Great single handedly dragged Russia from Asia into Europe. He established the Russian navy and his first ship building effort is housed in a museum outside Moscow. I've seen the ship, but could never verify whether it was the original or a copy.

Marcin Kukuczka Russia, the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. Tzar Peter, much ahead of his times, attempts at turning his country into the modern world. However, it is a real hardship to achieve the goals. He has to cope with conspiracies, even in his own family, and the objection from the church and the mob. That's more or less a brief summary of the mini series Peter the Great. Although the movie entails several serious historical inaccuracies, a viewer does get a general picture of the Russia of that time, of tzar Peter and his genius. What is more, it is very good as a movie.Any director has the right to change something in history, interpret it in his/her own way. That is no problem. The real distortion comes when there is a travesty of the times and of historic figures. But that is out of question when applied to this movie.The action is great! The mini series, though quite long, is made in such a way that once you start watching it, you will watch it till the end. The director's main focus is the figure of tzar Peter, his life, his goals, his dreams for Russia, and his disappointments. Looking from this perspective, the movie is a masterpiece, highly underrated. In most of the scenes with Peter, one can follow his thoughts, his experience with ruling, his goals that are hopelessly destroyed by the patriarchs, who say that Peter lost his soul, the blind mob, and, most tragically, his son Alexis. I can't forget the scene when Peter says "I've lost my son. He doesn't love me" The tzar Peter is beautifully portrayed by two actors: young Jan Niklas, really worth noticing, and Maximilian Schell, and undoubtable talent, not only as an actor but as a director too (see for instance his Erste Liebe).Other cast are also very, very good. Lawrence Olivier as the English king, William of Orange, Trevor Howard as Sir Isaac Newton (consider Peter's memorable meeting with Sir Newton); Ursula Andress as Athalie, and especially, Vanessa Redgrave as Peter's rebellious sister Sophia. She plays equally well as in another Russian epic, Young Catherine (1991) by Michael Anderson with Julia Ormond in the main role. I want to make one more notice about the movie. There are a lot of scenes that the movie is worth watching for. But especially, watch the part that shows Peter's journey to Europe. Marvin J. Chomsky wonderfully presents a huge contrast between the Europe of that time and Russia. Then, you will definitely understand his goals...Peter the Great is a Russian epic that is highly underrated and seriously forgotten. The movie is very well made, it gives a clear picture of that reality, and a memorable interpretation of Peter's life. The whole story proves one sad fact very clearly:Great people are usually GREAT after their death! Isn't that an irony of human fate?

Doomdark This melodramatic Russian patriotic mini-series is supposed to depict the life of Peter the Great but purposely skips the most important incidents of the era. Much worse however is the way it attempts to re-write history to make Russia appear the helpless victim of an imperialistic and aggressive Sweden (at the time a Great Power in Europe), when in reality a weakened Sweden was attacked by a Russian/Polish/Danish alliance.The Swedish king, Karl XII, is depicted as a foppish young womanizer, which is about as far from the truth you can come. At the same time, Peter is shown as a balanced visionary, with the prophetic (and ominous) vision that Russia's future (expansion) lies in the West. While it is true that Peter was in a sense the father and architect of modern Russia, he was also a drunkard and a ruthless imperialist. Furthermore the battles that are covered by the mini-series have basis in reality only as to the locations and the final outcomes (the Swedish army was always outnumbered by at least 3-1, had to attack heavy fortifications at Poltava, etc).Few people realize just how pivotal this forgotten war between Sweden and the Russian alliance actually was. Had Sweden won (which it very nearly did), St. Petersburg would never have been built, Russia would have had no access to the Baltic Sea, and would likely have lost some territory as well as a huge sum of money - it would probably never have become the Great Power we know today. I can only recommend this mini-series to romantic Russian patriots and imperialists, who will no doubt swallow this falsified account of history without too much trouble.